Apparatus for extracting fruit juices



April 24, 1945. RAVNDAL AL 2,374,456

APPARATUS FOR EXTRAGTING FRUIT JUICES Filed Aug. 2, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheetl April 24, 1945. E: RAVNDAL ETAL 2,374,456

APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING FRUIT JUICES Filed Aug. 2, 19 41 3 Sheets-Sheet2 '5 eeaeoeooaoeoeaeoeo K Enclc RawcdaL Alexander PFoJ/zargfd April1945. E. RAVNDAL ET AL k APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING FRUIT JUICES FiledAug. 2, 1941 s Sheets-Sheet 3 I Alexander Piole/gill, m z w FatentedApia. 34, 1945 STAB- j ATEN.

APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING FRUIT. .iiiUIEES Eric Ravndal and Alexander W.lFothergiili, ilrlando, Fla, assignors of three-fourths to said Randaland one-fourth to 1.15

Fctherg'ili Application August 2', 1941, Serial No. 4051250 (on. its-s)i @iaims.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for extracting fruitjuices and more particularly citrus fruit juices.

An object of the invention is theprovision of an apparatus forextracting juice from the peel,

pulp, seeds, and other component parts of citrus fruit, whereby theextracted juice will be substantially free of the essential oils,tei'penes, and other bitter elements contained therein. Thus, a tastierand more desirable juice is provided, leaving the residue in such acondition that it can be used in any desired manner.

In the extraction of citrus fruit juices, we have found that in manyprior art processes and machines, there is a crushing, mashing,pressing, and batting of the peeled or unpeeled fruit,

which causes the extracted juice to contain essential oils and otherbitter and undesirable constituents. The present invention is designedto eliminate this objectionable feature. by providing a process andapparatus wherein disintegration of the fruit is permitted withoutcracking the seeds or crushing the rag.

One means for carrying out this process comprises the employment of apair of oppositely rotated shafts, each having a plurality of rows oiradially extending pins which overlap and intermesh with the pins of theother shaft.

These pins are of considerablygreater length ments without a crushing orpressing action such as would cause the extraction of bitter orundesirable juice. While the majority of the seedsv will be thrown awayfrom the center of the apparatus, as will be hereinafter described thoseseeds which are drawn between the shafts will not be crushed or broken,due to the clearance ofthe'intermeshin'g pins.

' Another object is to, employ-a cover or hoodenclosingthewdisintegrating members and provided :withaipfliriof inlet spouts,each positioned outwardly-afroiirazthe axis of one or the shafts,whereby: theafruit is initially delivered to the outer sides'ot themembers where it is prelim-.

inarily acted upon by the fingers or pins of its;

respective member as his thrown towardthe center of the disintegratingarea between the shafts. Thereafter, the partially disintegrated fruitwill be drawn downwardly and completely disintegrated by theintermeshing fingers or pins, 7 without any crushing of the rag orcracking of the seeds, due primarily to the clearance between the pinswhich will disintegrate the fruit without it such crushing or crackingaction. The rotation of the pins will cause a strong down draft of airbetween the shafts which assists in the disintegrating operation. r

A further object is to provide a juice extracting apparatus including amovable screeningor juice separating member having an upwardly inclinedimperiorate residue discharge section wherein the residue which isseparated from the juice is gradually moved away from the perforatedsectipn at a rate suiliciently slow to permit substantially all of thejuice to be separated from the residue before the latter is finallydischarged irom the separating member.

Another object is to provide an improved operating mechanism iOrrotatingtheshafts and reciprocating the screening or separating memher.

With the foregoing and other ob ects in view, the invention will now bemore fully described,

reference being had to the accompanying draw- I ings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a side view or the disintegrating members.

Figure 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 of Fi ure 2. V

Figure. 4 is a section taken on line tl of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary view showing the outer portion of thescreening or separating element.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary vertical section of a modified form of theinvention.

Figure 7 is a side elevation of one of the lever supporting blocks, and

Figure 8 is an end view of the block shown in Figure'i.

I Referring now to Figure 1 of the drawings, the numeral l0 designatesgenerally the present juice extracting apparatus. This apparatus: may besupported above the ground or floor line in any desired manner, and inthe present instance the supporting means comprises a base ll consistingY c t longitudinally extending rails l2 and transjvoi'secross bars I;connecting the rails II. A

plurality of vertically extending posts it project upwardly from thebase it at opposite ends ofthe base and are connected at their upperends by longitudinally extending rails l5.

At spaced points between the posts it are pairs of intermediate posts itand H which are of greater length than the posts it and which areconnected by sets of longitudinal and cross rails l8 and I9,respectively. These posts and rails 5,11, i8, and i9 form theframework-for supporting the fruit disintegrating mechanism which willnow be described in detail.

, Supported upon the cross bars I9 are sets of bearings within which arejournaled a pair of shaft 2i and 22, respectively. These shafts arerelatively small in diameter and upon each shaft are mounted a pluralityof rows of disintegrating fingers or pins 23. Referring particularly toFigures 2, 3, and 4, it will be observed that there are four rows ofpins on each shaft, and each row is equidistant from the others, so thatthe pins in one row are positioned at right ansitioned to one side ofand slightly below sprocket gear 2?. This idler 32' makes it possible todirect the chain in such a way as to rotate the two shafts in oppositedirections and also serves to take up the slack in the chain. It willalso be observed that this arrangement places the long side of thesprocket chain on the pull side of the motor, and thus avoids having iton the push side.

Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 4, the numeral 33 designates asubstantially semi-cylindrical hood or casing which encompasses thegreater portion of the upper shaft 2| and Hand pins 23. This hood isprovided with flanges 3d at each side which are supported upon the railsl8, being secured thereto by suitable lock bolts 35. These bolts areextended upwardly to provide elongated glesto the pins of its adjacentrows. The pins are of considerably greater length than the diameters ofthe shafts and the shafts are so spaced that a row of pins on one shaftwill overlap a row of pins on the other shaft throughout the greaterportion of the lengths of the pins (see Figures 2 and 4). The pins,furthermore, are spaced from each other to such an extent that when onerow overlaps or inter-meshes with a row of pins on the other'shaft,there will be sufllcient space between adjacent pins to permit thepassage of seeds, rag and peel without breaking the seeds orsubstantially crushing or mashing the rag and peel sufficiently to freeany of the essential oils which would tend to impair the flavor of theextracted juice. We have ascertained that the clearance between theintermeshing pins should be substantially three eighths of an inch toallow passage of the seeds, rag and peel or rind of oranges, withoutbreaking or crushing the seeds or effecting such crushing action on thepeel and rag which would release the essential oils. In addition to theshafts 2| and 22, there is provided a third shaft 24 (see Figure 4),which is mounted centrally of shafts 2| and 22 and sufficiently belowthese shafts to allow just the ends of the pins 25 of this latter shaftto overlap the ends of the pins 23. The pins 25 provide a finaldisintegrating action to the fruit after it is substantiallydisintegrated and passes through the 'intermeshing pins 23.

Shafts 2| and 22 are designed to rotate in opposite directions as shownby the arrows in Figure 4 and the means for effecting this rotationcomprises a chain and sprocket mechanism. Re-

f erring particularly to Figure 1, it will be ob- Zrved that sprocketgears 26 and 21 are flxedlvounted on the ends of the shafts 2| and 22. Asprocket gear 28 is likewise secured to the same end of the shaft 24 anda sprocket chain 29 rostems 38 and handle portions 31 to facilitate theunscrewing of the bolts and the removal of the hood when it is desiredto gain acces to theshafts andpins of the disintegrating mechanism. Thehood 33 is provided with semi-circular end sections 38 having spacedopenings for the shafts 2i and 22.

Referring particularly to Figure 4, it'will be observed that the lowersides of the hood are spaced slightly from the outer extremities of thepins 23. Upon opposite sides of the top center of the hood arelocatedinlet openings 39 and W for the introduction of either peeled orunpeeled fruit. spaced laterall and longitudinally of the hood, thefruit is well distributed over the pins, Furthermore, since theseopenings'are positioned to one side of the center line .of the hood, thefruit is not dropped directly into the space between the shafts 2| and22. In other words, the fruit is first introduced to the disintegratingmechanism and contacts the pins of a shaft adjacent one side of thehood, depending upon which inlet opening is used. With thi construction,there is a preliminary disintegrating action before the fruit is throwntoward the center of the disintegrating area between the shafts 2| and22. This preliminary disintegration releases the majority of the seedsfrom the fruit, and since the seeds are of substantially greater weightthan the rest of the parts which go to make up the fruit, they willbethrown outwardly away from the main disintegrating area and follow thecontour of the hood, dropping clean and uncracked-toa screening,mechanism 4|, without passing between the shafts 2| and 22. The fewseeds which are drawn into the disintegrating area between the shafts 2|and 22 will, however, not be broken or cracked, due to the clearancebetween the intermeshing pins.

The presentinvention is designed to accommodate either peeled orunpeeled fruit. If unpeeled fruit, such as oranges, are introducedthrough the inlet openings 39 and 40, they will be initially tates overand in engagement with these gears.

This sprocket chain 29 at its lower end also engages a sprocket gear 30mounted upon the shaft of a motor 3|. This motor is mounted uponrelatively short rails 32 connected to posts I and IS. The sprocketchain passes from the gear 30' upwardly and around sprocket gear28,'then up and around sprocket gear 26, thendownwardly and undersprocket'gear 21, whereby the shafts 2| and 22 will be rotated inopposite directions. Before passing back to the driving gear 30 mountedon the motor shaft, the chain pm around an idler sprocket roller 32',which is pobroken up upon opposite sides of the hood and of the ajorityof the seeds as above noted, will be t rown into the area between theshafts 2| and 22 and drawn forcibly downward by them- 113st of the.particles, with the exception termeshing pins 23. The particles arethen caught in the whirl of the shaft 24 and pins 25, and thrownviolently outward to the sides of themechine in a wholly disintegratedcondition where the juice and residue fall to the screen 4|. The

disintegration is substantially instantaneous, and

upon examination the residue will be found to contain large sections ofrind or peel, with portions of themembi'anes still attached, but withDue to 'the fact that these openings are the juice cells and seedscompletely separated the juice.

It will be observed that there is no crushing or mashing of the fruit bythe shafts 2| and 22, due primarily to the fact that the diameter ofthese shafts are considerably smaller than the lengths of the pins 23.Thus, the inter-meshing pins efl'ect substantially, all of thedisintegration of the fruit. These pins, as shown in the drawings, arepreferably round in cross-section, and. have no sharp edges or sideswhich would tend to crush or break the seeds, and other fruit elements.

Aside from the fact that the complete disintegration "of the fruit isprimarily due to the ar-.

rangement of the pins whereby suficient clearance is provided to preventcrushing, mashing or breaking of the peel, seeds and other elements ofthe fruit, we have found thatthe action of the pins 2% rotating inopposite directions (see Figures) sets up a strong force of air ordowndraft which tends to draw the fruit downwardly past the shafts 2iand 22 and'assists in the disintegrating action. Due to the fact thatthe, pins pass each other at the center point, they produce a fan-likeaction in forcing the air downward in asraase the middle space betweenthe shafts. This downdraft is broken up or interrupted when it reachesthe pins 25. These pins, therefore, not only produce a finaldisintegrating action on the fruit,

but also prevent the disintegrating fruit from being deposited atonepoint on. the screens. In other words, the pins 25 intercept thesubstantially disintegrated fruit and scatter it so that it is notconcentrated at one particular spot on the screen.

Referring to Figure 4, it will be observed that the sidesoi the framebelow the hood d3 are enclosed by outer plate ii which are moimtedbetween the posts it and iii, and the rails iii and it and are designedto exclude dirt and insects. The fruit in its finally disintegrated formdrops down upon the screen ii. This screen iii consists of a perforatedbottom or floor ti. and imperiorate side walls 53. 'At one end of thescreen ii there is an imperforate upwardly inclined area dd which joinsthe perforated floor id. The screen is suitably supported below theshaft 2d so that it will reciprocate or oscillate during the rotation oithe shafts. This oscillation of the screen not only jostles the residueso that any juice adhering to the same will be separated therefrom, butit also gradually moves the residue toward the inclined section so. Bythe time that the residue reaches the section dd substantially all ofthe juice will have been separated therefrom and it will then begradually forced up the inclined end and finally discharged into a binor box lit.

a. set of inner plates 432' are spaced inwardly V of' the plates di' andextend-downward inside the. flanges d3 of the screen ti, terminating ashort distance above the floor 62. The upper ends or the platesdt'extendoutwardly to form flanges downwardly and inwardly. They preferablyextend to within an inch of the screen except at the discharge end wheremore clearance is allowed for free passage of the residue to box 35.

The means for efiecting the reciprocation or oscillation of the screenti is as follows: The screen is pivotally supported adjacent .itsdischarge end to a pair of rods or links at. One end of each link ispivotally connected to one of the walls 33 while the other end ispivotaliy mounted on a stub shaft or pin di secured to one of the railsit. At the extreme inner end of the screen is mounted a cross bar aswhich projects through suitable openings dd at opposite sides of theframe structure. The opposite ends of this rod are-pivotally connectedto a pair of levers til, each of which is pivotally mounted intermediateits ends upon the frame structure adjacent its respective rail it. Theupper end of each lever to is pivotally connected to a link Fri which inturn is pivotally connected to a pin 52.1ixed to an eccentric 53. Eacheccentric is fixed to a shaft ht mounted in bearings supported upon anauxiliary frame member 56. which is connected to the posts it; and railsit. A large bevel gear El is fixed centrally of and to the shaft 56 andmeshes with a pinion 68 mounted on the end of shaft 26 directly infrontof the sprocket gear es.

With this construction, when the motor ii is perated to rotate theseveral sprocket gears, rotatlon will also he imparted to the shaft 2 5through the'bevel gear 51 and pinion 5%. By reason of the eccentrics 53,the lever as will he moved about its pivot and this action will impartan or cord Another cable M is connected to the switch and is designed tobe plugged into any suitable-wall plug or other electrical outlet tit,

whereby the apparatus is ready for instant use. Referring to Figures 7and 8, there is shown means for adjustingone end of the screen M so asto control the speed of discharge of the residue up the inclined area(it. This means comprises a pair oi blocks t8 detachably mounted onopposite sides of the frame. Each block is provided with an integralstub shaft til constituting the pivot for one of the levers 5t Eachblock lid is also formed with two sets of transverse holes t9 and tit,respectively, one set extending at right angles .to the other as clearlyshown in Figure 7. With this arrangement, and assuming the blocks are inthe position shown in the drawings, the inner end of the screen willbein its lowermost position. The degree of inclination of theimperforate portion tit will be greatest in this position of the blocks,so that the rate of discharge of the residue will be retarded. If it isdesiredto increase the speed of discharge of the residue,

the bolts and nuts ill and ii are removed, and the bloclrs turned upsidedown. that is atan angle of 180 so that the shafts s1 will be inthedotted line position of Figure 7. This will raise the inner end ofthe screen ii, so that the portion M will swing downwardly about thestub shafts M as a pivot. This will decrease the inclination of the area44 and thus speed up the rate of discharge of the residue. If anintermediate speed is desired, the blocks 66 may each be turned on itsside, so that the holes 69 are vertical. In this position, the stubshaft 6? will be located at an 10 intermediate point centrally of theupper and lower ends of the block, as clearly shown in Figure 8. From apractical standpoint, it is immaterial whether the block is turned tothe right or left to bring the shaft 67 to its intermediate position,since the inclination of the portion t l will be substantially the same.

Referring to Figure 6, "there is rapefruit. While the construction shownin Figuresl to 5 could be used to extract grapefruit juice, it isparticularly designed, to accommodate oranges. This apparatusillustrated in Figure 6,

disclosed a I modified form of the invention which is designed toaccommodate heavy citrus fruits, such as is the same as the other form,except that a pair of lower shafts l2 and '53 are substituted for thesingle shaft 24. The pins 74 are the same shape and size as the pins 23.The sprocket chain i5 is so arranged that after passing around idlergear it, it passes under gear Tl fixed to shaft '03, t m

and then up and over gear is fixed to shaft T2. The chain then passes tothe motor (not shown).

As illustrated by the arrows in Figure 6, this arrangement of the chainsand gears rotate the upper shafts in the same direction a that shown inFigure 4. That is, the pins 23 feed the fruit, as it is beingdisintegrated, downwardly between the shafts 2i and 22. Shafts l2 and73, rotating-in opposite directions to shafts 2i and 22, thereforetherefrom longitudinally of the shafts suflleiently to efiect adisintegration of the fruit and freeing of the juice without breaking orcracking the seeds or crushing the peel and rag as would cause therelease of oil or other bitter constituents, the top of said casingconstituting a substantially semi-cylindrical hood having a pair ofinlet openings, each opening being located to one-sideof the center lineof the hood whereby the fruit will drop upon the outside pins and bepartially disintegrated, and means for rotating the shafts in'oppositedirections whereby the seeds will be separated and thrown in a pathadjacent the walls of the hood while the other particles of the fruitwill be thrown into the area between the shafts and completelydisintegrated by the action of the overlapping pins of the shafts.

2. An apparatus for extracting fruit juices comprising a support, meanscarried by said support for effecting a disintegration of the fruit,

; a; reciprocating separating member for receiving" the disintegratedfruit, said member including 'a screened floor through which the juiceis adapted to pass, said member having an imperforate portionconnecting'one end of the screened floor and inclined upwardly therefromto form an outlet for the residue whereby the seeds and other'residue ofthe disintegrated fruit will gradually move upon the inclined portionand eventually be dis charged therefrom aftersubstantially all of thejuice has been drained threiefrom back upon the screened floor, andmeans for adiusting the screen to vary the inclination of theimperforate. portion and change the speed of discharge of the residue.

3. An apparatus for extracting fruit juices comprising a support, meanscarried by said support for eifecting a disintegration of the fruit, 2.recipmove the pins M upwardly and outwardly. Thisdd has the effect ofbreaking up the downdraft between the shafts caused by the rotation ofthe pins as, so that the disintegrated fruit win-hot be throwndownwardly at one concentrated spoton tht "screen. The stantiallydisintegrated fruit and throw it outwardly to opposite sides of themachine where it will be distributed throughout a substantial area ofthe screen. The pins it and 23 may overlap each other to any desireddegree. Since the '50 upper run of pins of shaft 72 will be rotating inthe same direction as the lower run of pins on shaft 2i, both sets ofpins will tend to throw the disintegrated fruit outwardly to one side ofthe machine. This will also be true of the inter as meshing pins 23 andid of shafts 22 and 113.

While the above described modifications are the preferred ones, it is'tobe understood that the number of lower shafts and pins may be increased,if desired. It is to be further understood that the invention is notlimited to the details of construction shown in the drawings anddescribed in the specification, and that the phraseology em- .ployed inthe specification-is for'the'purpose of description and not oflimitation.

We-claim: i 1. An apparatus for extracting citrus fruit juicescomprising a horizontally disposed casing, a pair of shafts journalledin said casing, a plurality of rows of pins secured to each shaft, thelengths of 70' said pins being greater than the diameters of I saidshafts. the pins of one shaft being positioned in staggered andoverlapping relation to the pins of the other shaft, the pins of oneshaft overlapping those of the other shaft throughout the rocatingseparating member for receiving the dis integrated fruit, said memberincluding a screened floor through which the juice is adapted to pass,said member having an imperforate por tion connecting one end of thescreened floor and pins M will take the subinclined upwardly therefromto form an outlet charged therefrom after substantially all of the juicehas been drained therefrom back upon the screened floor, means forreciprocating the screen including a lever having one end pivotally supporting one end of the screen, and a block having a stub shaft uponwhich thelever is pivotally mounted, and means for detachably mountingthe block on the support to change the location of the stub shaft andvary the inclination of the imperforate portion of the screen.

4. An apparatus for extracting citrus fruit juices comprising a casing,substantially closed at its top, a pair of shafts journalled in saidcasing, a plurality of rows of pins secured to each shaft. the lengthsof said pins being greater than the diametersof said shafts, the pins ofone shaft' and being spaced therefrom longitudinally of the shaftssufficiently to eflect a disintegration of the fruitand-freeing of thejuice without breaking or crackingthe seeds pr crushing the peel and ragto such an extent its wouldcause the release of oil or other bitterconstituents, the top of said casing 'having-a'pair of inlet openingathelower end of said casing being'entirely open, and a reciprocatingseparating screen mounted below the open end of the casing and havingside walls positioned e'xteriorly 'of and overlapping said lower end ofthe casing to thereby receive the disintegrated fruit.

5. An apparatus for extracting citrus fruit juices comprising a support,a pair of shafts journalled in said support, a plurality of rows of pinssecured to each shaft, the lengths of said pins being greater than thediameter of said shafts, the pins of one shaft being positioned instaggered and overlapping relation to the pins of the other shaft, thepins of one shaft overlapping those of the other shaft throughout thegreater portion of their lenghs and being spaced therefromlongitudinally of the shafts, the clearance between the intermeshingpins being substantially three-eighths of an inch so as to eflectdisintegration of the fruit and freeing of the juice without crackingthe seeds or crushing the peel and rag to such an extent as to releaseessential oils or other bitter constituents, and means for rotating theshafts in opposite directions.

6. An apparatus for extracting citrus fruit juices comprising a support,a pair of shafts ,of relatively small diameter journalled in saidsupport, four rowsof pins secured to each shaft, with each rowpositioned at substantially right angles to the adjacent rows onits'shaft, the lengths of said pins being considerably greater than thediameter of said shafts, the pins of one shaft being positioned instaggered and overlapping of one shaft overlapping those of the othershaft throughout the greater portion of their lengths and being spacedtherefrom longitudinally of the shafts, the clearance between theintermeshing pins being substantially three-eighths of an inch so as toeffect disintegration of the fruit and freeing of the juice withoutcracking the seeds or crushing the peel and rag to such an extent as torelease essential. oils or other bitter constituents, and means forrotating the shafts in opposite directions.

7. An apparatus for extracting citrus fruit Juices comprising a support,a pair of shafts journalled in said support, a plurality of rows of pinssecured to each shaft, the lengths of said pins being greater than thediameter of said shafts, the pins of one shaft being positioned instaggered and overlapping relation to the pins of the other snaft,the-pins of one shaft overlapping those of the other shaft throughoutthe greater portion of their lengths and being spaced there- 'fromlongitudinally of the shafts. the clearance between the intermeshinspins being approximately the minimum distance which will eifectdisintegration of the fruit and freeing of the juice without crackingthe seeds or crushing the peel and rag to such an extent as to releaseessential oils or other bitter constituents, and means for rotating theshafts in opposite directions.

ERIC RAVNDAL.

ALEXANDER P. FO'I'I-IERGILL.

relation to the pins of the other shaft, the

